Chapter 1

  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah.  

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  Hear, [ye] heavens, and give ear, [thou] earth! for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children; and they have rebelled against me.  

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  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; Israel doth not know, my people hath no intelligence.  

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  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that corrupt themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they are turned away backward.  

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  Why should ye be smitten any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  

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  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in him; wounds, and weals, and open sores: they have not been dressed, nor bound up, nor mollified with oil.  

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  Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers eat it up in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.  

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  And the daughter of Zion is left, as a booth in a vineyard, as a night-lodge in a cucumber-garden, as a besieged city.  

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  Unless Jehovah of hosts had left us a very small residue, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.  

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  Hear the word of Jehovah, rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, people of Gomorrah!  

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  To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith Jehovah. I am sated with burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of he-goats I take no pleasure.  

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  When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this from your hand -- to tread my courts?  

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  Bring no more vain oblations! Incense is an abomination unto me, -- new moon and sabbath, the calling of convocations -- wickedness and the solemn meeting I cannot bear.  

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  Your new moons and your set feasts my soul hateth: they are a burden to me; I am wearied of bearing [them].  

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  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.  

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  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; -- cease to do evil,  

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  learn to do well: seek judgment, gladden the oppressed, do justice to the fatherless, plead for the widow.  

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  Come now, let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  

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  If ye be willing and hearken, ye shall eat the good of the land;  

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  but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.  

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  How is the faithful city become a harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness used to lodge in it, but now murderers.  

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  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is mixed with water:  

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  thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth presents, and hunteth after rewards; they judge not the fatherless, and the cause of the widow cometh not unto them.  

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  Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.  

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  And I will turn my hand upon thee, and will thoroughly purge away thy dross, and take away all thine alloy;  

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  and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning. Afterwards thou shalt be called, Town of righteousness, Faithful city.  

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  Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and they that return of her with righteousness.  

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  But the ruin of the transgressors and of the sinners [shall be] together; and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.  

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  For they shall be ashamed of the terebinths that ye have desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens that ye have chosen.  

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  For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.  

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  And the strong shall be for tow, and his work a spark; and they shall both burn together, and there shall be none to quench [them].  

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